What do you get when you add an almost 7 year-old girl, and a 9-year-old boy to 5-1/2 & 7 year old brothers? Twice the Fun, of course.
My two boys eagerly awaited this date since Ethan & Jayde would be spending the entire day with us so their parents could attend an out-of-town conference. Little did they know just how early they'd arrive - something I failed to mention to them since I knew that they would be awake at that time too! Yet when the kids arrived just before 6:00 a.m. today, Harry somehow sensed it and came strolling out of his room. He was promptly sent back to get another hours sleep!
And so Jayde, Ethan & I, along with Sabaka, watched some "Martha Speaks" on t.v. while we waited for the boys to get out of bed. We didn't have to wait long as both of them were back out at 7, and thus our day had officially begun. A little horsing around, some legos, and some fort building (using a deck box box, a printer box & a desk chair box) and the kids were good til 8:30 and breakfast, which was pumpkin muffins & chocolate chip pumpkin bread that I baked yesterday.
After breakfast we cleaned up and did our normal morning chores and managed to get all the kids into the van and we headed over to Lowe's for their 10:00 a.m. Build & Grow workshop. Mike stayed in the store while they did their building, and I went next door to Kohl's to pick up a few things for the boys. by 11:00 the workshop was over and the kids were happily showing off their creations; kaleidoscopes. A quick stop at the grocery store and we were back home again.
The kids played outside while we waited for the pizza to come out of the oven, and once they were done eating headed off to play Wii for a little while. Harry and Jayde didn't play for long at all and decided to watch some Ruff Ruffman and teach the dog to dance. Now THAT was a sight! By about 1:15 the temperatures warmed up enough for the kids to venture outside and run off some energy while Mike took a trip the landfill and to a nearby dairy farm in the hope of purchasing some "fertilizer" for the garden. Temps aren't anywhere close to safe for planting yet, but it's good to start the rototilling as soon as the ground is soft enough. With a house to myself temporarily, I decided to do absolutely nothing! It was wonderful, but of course didn't last long as Skip came in with a lump on his head after miscalculating the clearance above the slide. A bag of frozen chopped onions on the goose egg did the trick pretty easily and he was back to normal in very short time but decided to to stay inside with Ethan. Jayde & Harry were having fun out in the sandbox and stayed out their quite awhile.
While they played I baked some chocolate chip cookies which all of them gobbled up pretty quickly. Between the kids & Mike they left me one, so all was good in my world! After a quick rummage through the boys drawers I was able to come up with shorts & a swim shirt for Jayde and also a set that fit Ethan, who is quite a bit bigger than Skip. All four kids headed out to the hottub and even though Mike was outside and could keep and eye on them, I watched from the deck above - just in case. It was after 3 when I told them to come inside since a) they were startin' to look like prunes and 2) Harry was trying my patience ignoring all the well known hot tub rules (i.e. no touching the controls, no cannonballs, no sitting on the downhill side of the pool, etc.) No complaints at all, and within minutes they were in dried off, changed up, and brainstorming about what to do next. Back from the landfill & farm (without fertilizer - they're out 'til tomorrow)Mike managed to get the garden tilled AND has removed the rotted deck box and cut it up to burn. He also put new mulch down in about one-half of the front yard, so he had a pretty productive afternoon despite the cold weather.
The rest of the afternoon passed pretty quickly for me and for the kids the time was spent building and re-building forts, building with legos, playing with the train set, superhero dress-up, an episode of Phineas & Ferb and some more Wii. Everyone enjoyed my dinner which was Chicken Parmigiana & Garlic Bread, and as soon as it was all cleaned up it was time to get Harry ready for bed. He wasn't thrilled about going to sleep while his friends were still here, but he was EXHAUSTED, and despite his protesting, he was out cold in 5 minutes. Ever since he stopped napping a few months ago, he crashes pretty early at nite.
The remaining three played well together until Beth & Justin returned from their conference, and after some catching up, they left for home with their tired kids. Skip is already in bed, and I can guarantee I won't be far behind. I'm so glad we got to borrow Ethan & Jayde today and if the kids have any say in the matter, we'll do it again soon!
Sabaka liked the extra attention
Brother & sisterly love!
Nothing like a bag of chopped onions to help get rid of a goose egg!
Didn't interfere with his Wii playing...
Messin' around in the hot tub.
So just add rewashing laundry, sweeping & vacuuming the laundry room floor to my to-do list and chalk it up to experience. Hopefully the last experience of its kind for a good long time!
